


The Year of STRQ

by OnyxMidnight



Series: STRQtober [3]
Category: RWBY
Genre: 50 word stories, Canonical Character Death, F/F, F/M, Found Family, Little bit of blood, M/M, Multi, Tai dad jokes, Team as Family, The Year of STRQ, This does get dark at times, a whole lot of fun, canon-compliant deaths, little bit of liquor, team shenanigans, traumatized characters
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-11-13
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-10 01:22:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 117
Words: 5,850
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27546037
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OnyxMidnight/pseuds/OnyxMidnight
Summary: A full year of daily shenanigans about the greatest team to ever graduate Beacon. According to them, anyway.365 days. 365 one word prompts. 365 stories of exactly 50 words. Had fun last month with STRQtober, so I figured I'll do a year of STRQ, and see if I'm still sane at the end.
Relationships: Qrow Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose, Raven Branwen/Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long, Raven Branwen/Taiyang Xiao Long, Summer Rose/Taiyang Xiao Long
Series: STRQtober [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1950442
Comments: 49
Kudos: 51





	1. Counter

**Author's Note:**

> Also posted to my Tumblr, Drunkscythmaster

Summer loved cooking, loved baking. She enjoyed being in the kitchen making delicious things. What she didn’t like as much were the twins who enjoyed sitting on the counter in bird form waiting until her back was turned so they could steal bits and pieces of whatever she was cooking.


	2. Divorce

“Hey,” Qrow said as Tai returned home. He’d been watching a monster movie with the girls.  
“Check out this new shovel,” Tai said, holding it up.  
“Cool…” Qrow said.  
“Some would say it’s… ground breaking.” Tai looked so damn smug.  
Qrow gave him a flat look. “I want a divorce.”


	3. Outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one was inspired by LogicalParafox (Solitarysynonym)

Qrow was laying out in the grass, relaxing, listening to his nieces chase their puppy instead of jumping on him.  
Then something plunged into the ground right beside his head and he sat up, startled.  
“That was for making fun of my shovel,” Tai said, grinning as he started digging.


	4. Betray

Raven looked down at her brother from where she stood beside Lionheart. If he hadn’t shown Leo where she was, she could have stayed out of this. If he hadn’t been so damn trusting of Ozpin’s machinations, she wouldn’t have to pretend to fight him.  
Sometimes, betrayal went both ways.


	5. Confrontation

She could only hope Tai didn’t notice her as she flew by. She couldn’t handle another confrontation, not now. Yang’s words had left her shaken, repeating in her mind like a broken record that wouldn’t stop. She had no mask to hide behind now. Tai would see right through her. 


	6. Death

Qrow lay on the ground, his blood rapidly cooling around him. Was he finally going to die?   
He heard a raven croak nearby, a harbinger of death.   
“What?” Was that Tai?   
“Ask questions later, help him!” Raven snarled.  
The raven wasn’t a harbinger after all. She never could let go.


	7. Heart

“Well now, isn’t this interesting?” Watts remarked, holding Tai’s heart up for all to see. Tai was on some kind of bypass machine, it kept him alive and conscious as Watts showed off his gory prize.  
Raven screamed, unable to move, to attack, to wake herself up from this nightmare.


	8. Leftovers

Qrow looked at Tai and Raven. There they were, the scraps of STRQ, the grizzled leftovers of something that had once been great.  
“Can we do this?” Tai asked, looking pointedly at Raven. She was, as always, the wildcard.   
“Let’s go Team RQT,” she said dryly.   
Team Wrecked. How accurate.


	9. Nuance

It was mercy.   
That was what Raven told herself over and over. It was mercy. The girl hadn’t been able to handle it, being the Spring Maiden, the truth of what they were up against. So she had begged Raven for mercy.  
Raven had never severed a bond herself before.


	10. Skate

Summer had no idea how she’d gotten stuck with such a chaotic team. Tai and Raven raced across the ice at reckless speeds with no regard for people around them while Qrow inevitably found the weak spot and fell through. Twice.   
That said, she wouldn’t have it any other way.


	11. Researcher

Despite being barely literate when she first came to Beacon, Raven enjoyed research. She had a knack for finding information, and she liked knowing things. It also meant that she picked at the holes, at the shadows better left unsearched if one wanted to stay sane.  
She knew too much. 


	12. Wisecrack

“So, you can be a wise man or a wiseass, but not both, right?” Tai asked, grinning.  
“I have a feeling I don’t want to know where this is going,” Qrow said.  
“So, which one of them would have the better wisecrack?”  
Qrow rolled his eyes. “Whichever one isn’t you.”


	13. Jaw

“So, how do I look?” Qrow asked as he stepped out of the bathroom, ready for the dance.   
“Given that Tai’s jaw is on the floor I’d say it’s a hit,” Raven drawled as Summer snickered.  
Qrow smirked at their blushing teammate. “Perfect. Maybe I’ll even save him a dance.”


	14. Marble

Tai never thought of Summer as a hard woman. She was strong as hell, but never hard. She was kind, generous, an amazing mother. She’d held his fragile heart in her hands and made it feel whole.  
It seemed to wrong that all that was left now was a stone.


	15. Point

“Um, care to explain?” Tai asked, looking around the room. Summer was sitting in the middle of what had to be a hundred knives.  
“I think it’s hot,” Raven said as she walked past, smirking when he blushed.  
Summer grinned and pointed a dagger at him. “And that’s the point.”


	16. Colon

“That shouldn’t be a comma,” Summer said, looking over Qrow’s work.  
Qrow frowned. “What should it be?”  
“A colon,” she replied.   
Tai glanced over her shoulder. “No, it should be a semi-colon.”  
Raven looked at her brother as the two argued. “Sometimes I think we were better off illiterate.”


	17. Cycle

Qrow stared at the bottle in front of him. He’d try to stop, start feeling better, then his semblance would hurt someone and he’d be right back here at the bottom, trying to numb the guilt. He needed to stop, for the girls, for Tai.   
He just didn’t know how.


	18. Constant

Tai tried not to let anyone see how much he still struggled. Every day was a battle against the crushing abyss, the void that told him he was pathetic, weak for letting others fight while he stayed behind.  
He could still feel its pull, no matter how much time passed.


	19. Decide

“Just pick one,” Qrow said, shrugging. “Or both.”  
“Both?” Raven looked over at her brother.  
“Why not? You like them, they both like you and each other. Why not pick both instead of making this a stupid love triangle.”  
Raven thought about it. Qrow had a point. Why not both?


	20. Distribute

“That doesn’t look right,” Summer said, frowning over the map. Black marks showed the distribution of Grimm attacks.  
“No,” Raven agreed. “Why concentrate around an inconsequential village?”  
“I guess we’ll have to find out,” she said.  
“We?”  
“Call it a date.” Summer smirked.  
Raven grinned. “You always have the best ideas.”


	21. Professor

“You sure you want to do this?” Tai asked.  
Qrow sighed. “Tai… you and the girls need me. Besides, things have gone quiet since…” He couldn’t finish the sentence, but he didn’t have to.   
Tai swallowed hard and nodded, the relief clear in his face. “Welcome to Signal, Professor Branwen.”


	22. Medicine

“You two need medicine, not liquor,” Summer said, exasperated.  
“But this has anti-septic properties.” He was proud of himself for remembering that.  
“It’s medicine for the body and mind!” Raven added, grinning drunkenly.   
“I tried to stop them,” Tai said. “I failed.”  
This was going to be a long night.


	23. Agony

Tai gasped, fighting to stay conscious. He could hear Qrow fighting in the distance. His head was in Raven’s lap, and he stared up into those red eyes, not thinking about what Summer was trying to fix. He tried to focus on Raven’s voice, but his vision was going dark. 


	24. Summary

Summer frowned as she looked up at Qrow and Tai, both tangled in a net hanging from a tree.   
“How did this happen?” She wondered.   
“Short version? My semblance,” Qrow growled. “Didn’t see it.”  
“I’m sure that’s why,” Raven drawled. Tai’s face turned bright red.  
“What’s the long version?”  
“Unimportant.”


	25. Crowd

Raven hated crowds. There were too many people, too much noise, too much information lost to the chaos. She couldn’t pay attention to everything at once and something was bound to slip through the cracks. Someone would get hurt and it would be her fault. She had to protect them.


	26. Slide

“Slide!” Yang shouted, dragging Qrow across the playground with surprising strength for a toddler. He was always terrified his semblance would act up, always on guard for the slightest thing, but her gleeful laughter as she played made it all worth it.   
“Again, Co!” She demanded, bouncing in his arms.  
“Alright.”


	27. Employ

Tai and Summer waited nervously for Yang and Qrow’s return from the hair salon.  
Yet she was happily skipping alongside him when they returned.   
“No tears or fights? What did you do?” Tai asked, stunned.  
Qrow grinned. “I decided to employ a new tactic: bribery.”  
“Seriously?”  
He shrugged. “It worked.”


	28. Consideration

“What do you think?” Tai looked so excited.  
“There are worse choices you could make. Not many, but they exist,” Raven drawled.  
“It looks like you stuck a caterpillar on your face,” Qrow said.  
“Jerks.” He turned to Summer.  
She sighed. “The moustache doesn’t work, Tai.”   
He sighed. “Fine.”


	29. Grace

“How is it that you can go from fighting like prima ballerina to walking like a drunk penguin so fast?” Tai wondered as he hauled Qrow upright.  
“I’m not a penguin,” he slurred, glaring. “I actually can fly.”   
Tai sighed as he stumbled again. “Fine. Drunk buzzard.”  
“Jerk.”  
“Alcoholic anhinga.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For those interested, an anhinga is a type of water turkey, and in Brazilian Tupi it means 'devil bird'. Therefore, Tai is calling Qrow an evil turkey.


	30. Fuss

“Qrow, you’re hurt,” Summer said. He was leaning heavily against Raven, though they both tried to hide it. They always did stuff like that.  
“I’m fine,” he said.   
“No, you’re not. Sit down so I look at it.”  
“Summer…”  
“No. Sit.”  
He sighed, but finally obeyed. Raven hovered, ever protective.


	31. Harbour

“You have feelings for Tai.”  
Raven froze. “No. That’s insane.” Love was weakness to be exploited.  
“Why?”  
“It is.”  
“What if he likes you?”  
“He’s a fool.” He couldn’t… could he?  
Summer sighed. “I know you have the emotional capacity of a teaspoon, but… what if you could be happy?”


	32. Bomber

“Why do you always get to handle the explosives?” Raven wondered as the ship flew over the roiling mass of Grimm.  
“Because I’m the most responsible,” Summer replied as she took aim.  
“When will you admit that you’re abusing your power as leader to make things blow up?”   
“Not today.”


	33. Benefit

“Guys, we’re out of cash.” The mission had gone far longer than it should have.   
“Don’t worry about it,” Raven said.  
“We’re not stealing,” Summer said.  
“No, we’re going to win. Entirely legal,” Qrow promised.  
“How?”  
“Poker.”  
“What?”  
Qrow grinned. “It’s not cheating if I technically can’t control my semblance.”


	34. Trial

Qrow struggled to keep from shaking as his sentence was pronounced: execution. He’d fucked up and got caught. The tribe would never waste their time saving him.  
But as he looked through the noose, he saw familiar red eyes in the crowd. The tribe might abandon him, but Raven wouldn’t.


	35. Magnitude

“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?” Tai shouted.   
“Exposed a long kept secret by accident?” Summer replied, trying not to panic.  
“You made Grimm poof. Gone. Dead. Like it was nothing.”  
Summer looked uneasily at the twins, who were watching her with wary expressions.  
What had she done?


	36. Tempt

“I’ll clean the attic.”  
“No, you’ll just end up building another nest in it,” Tai replied.  
“I’ll watch the girls for a week.”  
“You’d do that anyway.”  
Qrow sighed. “I’ll go sober for a week.”  
Tai raised a brow. “You hate grading that much?”  
“Yes.”  
“Fine, I’ll do your grading.”


	37. Lane

Tai was rarely afraid. He could face Grimm down with a smile and charge into battle without hesitation.  
Raven behind the wheel of a car was a whole new level of terrifying.  
“You’re on the wrong side of the road!” He shouted.  
“How else will I pass people?”  
“You don’t!”


	38. Publisher

“Why would you volunteer us for the student newsletter?” Raven demanded.  
Qrow raised a brow. “You just want to wear one of those ‘press’ badges, don’t you?”  
“Maybe…” She may have already sent Tai to acquire four of them…  
Raven groaned. “I hate this team.”  
Summer smiled. “Love you too.”


	39. Marsh

Summer looked over the mission board. Picking one was generally a task requiring tact and diplomacy. Tai was the only one who liked deserts, Qrow and Raven hated Atlas, and they’d been all over Anima.   
She sighed. Extermination in the marshes it was. At least she had good rubber boots.


	40. Circumstance

Raven knelt in front of the gravestone, placing a white rose on top. Tai went next, then Qrow. None of them had dry eyes. Summer had always wanted the team back together, for Raven to return, for Qrow to stop fearing himself.   
Now this was the best they could do.


	41. Monster

“Did you kill her too?” The words echoed through her mind endlessly, no matter how hard Raven tried to stop them. The dam she’d put up in her mind long ago had broken, and Raven was drowning in the flood.  
In trying to escape monsters, she’d become one of them.


	42. Abnormal

Qrow wrapped his arms around his legs. Though it wouldn’t matter if the other tribe members knew he heard them. They wouldn’t care. Was he just an unlucky burden? Was he a freak? Should he be left behind? Raven always said to ignore them, they were wrong.  
But were they?


	43. Settle

When Tai returned from his mission, Summer was at the end of her rope. Ruby wouldn’t stop crying and Yang was a chaotic ball of energy.  
“I’ll get things settled, go relax,” he replied, kissing her before taking Ruby and Yang outside. Summer didn’t know what she’d do without him.


	44. Sermon

Once, when Ozpin was going on about choice again, Raven asked: “What about destiny?”   
He considered her for a moment. “Destiny isn’t set in stone. For example, your family may raise you with a certain future in mind, but you may choose another path.”  
That felt a little too pointed.


	45. Personal

“Who’s that?” Vernal asked. Raven snatched up the picture and put it safely in a pouch. Somehow, she couldn’t bring herself to get rid of it, that damned photo. No matter how much it hurt to look at it and remember what it was like to be free. Or happy.


	46. Generation

Qrow watched as James gave the kids their licences. He remembered how it felt, the excitement, the freedom of knowing he and Raven would be staying. They thought they could do anything, that nothing could defeat them. They were proven wrong.  
Somehow, though, he didn’t think these kids would be.


	47. Father

Qrow didn’t remember his father. He just knew he’d died before the tribe had ‘rescued’ him and Raven. He looked at Tai, who’d fallen asleep as Yang and Ruby both napped in his arms, tiny hands clinging to his shirt. He hoped that his father had been something like that.


	48. Railroad

“Just a little farther,” Summer said. “When we make it to the tracks, a train will come and spot us.”   
“But how long will we have to wait?” Raven asked, leaning heavily against Tai. Summer wasn’t sure how much farther she could go.  
“Not long,” she hoped she wasn’t wrong.


	49. Finance

Summer rubbed her temples as she went through the family finances. Money wasn’t a worry, Ozpin was a generous employer. Sometimes though, when Raven screamed in her sleep, Qrow drank himself into a stupor, or Tai had that thousand yard stare, she wondered if the benefits really outweighed the cost.


	50. Hardware

Tai wasn’t sure how to describe his relief as Yang walk down the stairs wearing her prosthetic arm and a look of determination. His sunny little dragon had found her spark again.  
“It’s different, but not too bad,” she said.  
He smiled. “Why don’t we see what it can do?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Happy New Year!


	51. Perfect

Summer couldn’t help but stare at the sight in front of her. Raven lay sprawled out across the sheets, more relaxed than she normally was. Tai was wrapped around her, a satisfied smile on his face.   
Raven opened her eyes slightly, the deep red almost burning. “You should join us.”


	52. Delay

“Looks like we’re going to be stuck here for a few more hours,” Qrow sighed as he looked at the flight schedule.  
“It’ll be fine,” Summer said, ignoring Raven’s groan.   
“I have cards somewhere,” Tai said, patting around his pockets.   
“Seriously?” Qrow asked.  
“Of course,” Tai said, smug. “Cargos rule.”


	53. Eternal

Summer sat on the log, lightly kicking her feet as she waited. She’d been waiting a very long time. It was peaceful here, quiet. But she still worried about them. They all had so much to face. And they were still desperately needed.   
So she could wait a little longer.


	54. Uniform

Raven knew her teammates had expected her to protest the uniform, but she saw it as a good thing. It was a shield that let her blend in and keep her secrets hidden. Fighting wasn’t an option, so she hid. She hid and she waited for her opportunity to strike.


	55. Displace

Raven thought she knew where she fit in the world. She had been content in her place in it and among the tribe.   
Now she wasn’t so sure.   
When Tai or Summer smiled at her, it made her heart do funny, happy things.   
For the first time, she felt lost.


	56. Drum

Summer’s heart pounded in her chest, a thundering beat. She ran as fast as she could through the forest, her stride steady and unwavering. Her team was around her, everyone moving in a practised, synchronized rhythm. There was a magic in the music, and she never wanted it to end.


	57. Deputy

“I need a second in command, a deputy, if you will,” Summer declared.   
“You’ve been watching too many Westerns,” Raven said.  
“I’d rather own the saloon,” Tai said.   
“Raven and I are already bandits,” Qrow added.  
“Not anymore,” Summer told him.   
Raven raised a brow. “Really?”  
“Yup. Now you’re mine.”


	58. Contraction

Raven had always been larger than life. Bold, brazen, powerful. She’d taken Tai’s breath away from the start. Now, though, she seemed to shrink in on herself, becoming smaller, lost despite all of her power. Broken. The last time she broke, she ran. He hoped she healed right this time.


	59. Drawing

“Don’t move!” Raven ordered as Summer started to get up. Summer looked over and raised a brow, but lay back down when she saw Raven was drawing.  
Raven didn’t answer, focused on her work. Years later, Yang and Ruby wondered where all the drawings of their parents had come from.


	60. Constitutional

“This is torture,” Raven groaned softly.  
“It’s important,” Summer replied, clearly just as bored. Port was lecturing on how huntsmen needed to be strong in the face of many hardships .  
“I don’t think I have the constitution to survive this lecture,” Qrow snickered the fourth time Port used the word.


	61. Tolerate

Living with three other people was an exercise in tolerance. Raven and Qrow couldn’t sleep unless the window was open, no matter the weather, and they were extremely light sleepers. Summer often stress-baked and hated anyone touching her many knives, and Tai would pun at any and every single opportunity.


	62. Traction

It took a year, but STRQ was finally starting to work together, causing mayhem rather than just being the mayhem. Summer felt like things were looking up, especially since Raven and Tai seemed to return her interest in them and Qrow had stopped acting like he was allergic to hugs.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Wow, over 1000 hits! Just wanted to say thank you to everyone reading this.


	63. Conspiracy

“So, d’you know what a group of ravens is called?” Tai asked, looking too pleased with himself.  
“Do not.” Raven replied in a flat tone, thwarting the oncoming joke.   
It wasn’t just the shitty pun, it was the fact that the punchline was a little too close to the truth.


	64. Correction

“He’s all I have,” Raven said, barely breathing as she watched Qrow through teary eyes. He was covered in bandages, so still on the hospital bed.   
“We’re here too,” Summer said gently, sitting beside her. “You have us, and we’ll help you make sure he’s okay.” Tai nodded in agreement.


	65. Chicken

“Now that you can turn into birds, is it cannibalism if you eat chicken?” Tai asked. The rest of STRQ rolled their eyes.  
“I thought we managed to end the bird jokes in first year,” Qrow groaned.   
“We can make it stop again,” Raven assured him in an ominous tone.


	66. Chapter 66

“If you get a new lease on life, does that mean you have to return it at some point?” Tai asked as STRQ relaxed in their room.  
“You have to buy the next self-help book,” Qrow drawled, smirking. Raven snorted.  
Summer frowned for a moment. “Wait... that actually makes sense.”


	67. Omission

Raven could have laughed at their expressions when she said she wanted her brother dead, but she kept it in, shaking hands with Salem’s pet. It was almost a pity, but she couldn’t be faulted if they hinged their deal on her brother and failed to ask about his semblance.


	68. Handicap

“Why are we here?” Raven wondered.  
“Apparently golf helps with team building?” Summer replied, uncertain.   
“What’s a handicap?” Qrow asked, flipping through a brochure that was supposed to tell them how to play.  
“Some kind of glove?” Tai asked, reading over his shoulder.  
This was not going to end well.


	69. Avenue

“I’m bored,” Raven announced after the sixth card game.  
“We could pursue… _other_ avenues of amusement…” Tai suggested, his tone making his intent clear. Summer looked up. Qrow was out scouting, not due back for several hours…  
“I think we should explore them,” Raven agreed, smirking. Summer grinned and nodded.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I couldn't help it. Well, I probably could, but I didn't want to.


	70. Stream

Summer and Raven watched as Qrow and Tai tried their hands at fishing.  
Raven shook her head at their failing efforts. “At this rate, one of them is going to get a hook in the other.”  
“Don’t say that,” Summer pleaded. “I don’t want to deal with all the whining.”


	71. Iron

Summer never quite understood why people wanted to be like iron. Sure, it was good for weapons, but on its own it was brittle, prone to rust or break. It had to be combined with other things and tempered properly to become strong. Like her team, stronger together than alone.


	72. Liberal

“It said a liberal amount!” Qrow said defensively as STRQ cleaned up the laundry room. It was full of bubbles.  
“Clearly that was too much of a liberal amount,” Summer replied. She turned the hose on Raven and Tai when she saw them kissing. “Focus! You can make out later!”


	73. Global

“Alright, it’s fourth year, we can go anywhere in the world!” Summer cheered as STRQ looked at the mission boards.  
“We’ll get arrested quickly in Atlas, Vacuo is too damn hot, and people around Mistral might realize Qrow and I are bandits,” Raven pointed out.  
“Don’t ruin this for me.”


	74. Linear

And just like that, everything lined up. Every moment of her life. It all led to this, this moment. She knew she wouldn’t win, but she had to do this. With a silent apology to her family, to the daughters who would inherit this war, Summer went to face Salem.


	75. Access

“Access denied,” The Atlesian guard said in a brusque tone. He was a mercenary, not a soldier. Summer nodded politely and walked back to where the rest of STRQ was waiting.  
“Well?” Tai asked, almost bouncing with anticipation.  
She shook her head. “Time for plan B.”  
Raven and Qrow smiled.


	76. Scatter

Qrow downed the whiskey in one and looked back at the photograph in front of him. They had been so close. Now… Tai was on Patch, Raven was somewhere in the wilds of Anima, and Summer…   
He waved for the bartender to bring him another drink. A double, this time.


	77. Texture

“I don’t understand,” Summer said, shaking her head. Raven was very drunk, which inevitably meant that she had turned into a bird and was now sleeping in Summer’s hood.  
“It feels nice,” Qrow said, shrugging. “It’s warm and soft. Safe.”  
“Oh, okay.” She knew it was rare they felt safe.


	78. Dish

“Hey, guess what? I found a soup pot in this creepy old cabin,” Tai said, holding something up.  
Raven glanced at Qrow. “Will you tell him or will I?” She asked.  
“Tell me what?” Tai asked.  
“Dude, that’s a chamber pot,” Qrow said, barely containing laugher. Tai quickly dropped it.


	79. Killer

Raven and Qrow were tense as they waited for Summer and Tai to react. It wasn’t everyday you found out your teammates were bandits. Thieves. Murderers.  
They had never expected that it would turn out okay, that the sunny side of STRQ would still accept them.  
But they were wrong.


	80. Notice

Qrow moved to stand by Summer. “Okay, when are you going to ask her out?”   
“What?” She looked startled.  
“Raven. You keep staring at her.”  
“Am not,” she said without conviction. “But do you think she’d say yes?”  
“I wouldn’t tell you to ask, otherwise,” Qrow promised, patting her shoulder.


	81. Flourish

Qrow spun his scythe in a fancy move before resting the end on the ground.  
“Was that really necessary?” Tai asked.   
“You’re just jealous,” Qrow replied.  
“Show off.”  
Qrow smirked. “You were fine with me showing off my skills last night.”  
Tai turned scarlet. Raven and Summer shook their heads.


	82. Adjust

It was so strange at Beacon. There was food freely given when they were hungry and safe places to sleep at night. They didn’t have to watch their backs every moment. They didn’t have to fight every second to prove they were worthy of life.  
Qrow never wanted to leave.


	83. Foster

“Don’t do it,” Qrow said.  
“Why not?” Tai said.  
“If you try to foster an animal it’s never going to leave your house,” he replied.  
“But it would be good for the girls.”  
“You’re going to end up keeping it.”  
“Am not.”  
Zwei arrived a week later. And never left.


	84. Duck

“What’s this?” Qrow asked, dropping the stuffed toy in Tai’s lap.  
“I thought you could use a friend,” he said with a straight face.  
“It’s a duck. I’m a crow.”  
“Yeah, birds,” he replied, grinning.  
“Get fucked.”  
“But your sister isn’t here,” Tai replied, too damn smug.  
“I hate you.”


	85. Bolt

“You gotta get better at this,” Qrow sighed as they looked for Raven.  
“How was I supposed to know she would run?” Tai demanded.  
“Because you tried to talk about _feelings_ with _Raven_ ,” Summer sighed.   
“You managed to ask her out!” He complained.  
“Because I got _moves_ ,” she replied smugly. 


	86. Hobby

“You need a hobby,” Summer declared.  
“I have hobbies,” Raven argued.  
“Sharpening your blades isn’t a hobby,” she replied.  
“Then what is?”  
“Going out with me,” Summer said, smirking.  
“Are you fucking kidding me?” Raven asked.  
“Nope.”  
“You’re worse than Tai.”  
“Am not! Will you go out with me?”  
“Fine.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Couldn't resist a follow up to yesterday.


	87. Reality

Tai stared down at the crib, and everything hit him at once. He had a baby to take care of and Raven wasn’t coming back. He couldn’t keep waiting for her to come home. He had to pull himself together and keep moving forward for Yang if no one else.


	88. Spill

Qrow flinched as Tai knocked over the vase on the counter, spilling water and flowers everywhere. “Sorry,” he muttered as he jumped up to help clean.  
“Not everything that goes wrong is your fault,” Tai reminded him. At this point it was probably a reflex.   
But Qrow never believed him.


	89. Question

In the Branwen tribe, questioning anything meant painful consequences. At Beacon, they could draw suspicion from people she didn’t want looking closely at her. Yet, more than anything, she craved knowledge. Because things had to make sense. So she asked them, afraid of the answer.  
“Why do you love me?”


	90. Gown

“What do you think?” Summer asked as she turned, the red gown swirling elegantly around her legs.  
Tai leaned back in the chair, sipping the champagne someone had given him. “You look amazing.”  
“You don’t think it’s silly? Wearing Raven’s colour?”  
He shook his head. “I think she’ll love it.


	91. Nervous

Raven shuffled uneasily on the tree branch, keeping to the shadows where her dark feathers acted as camouflage. She didn’t know if Tai spotted her as she flew away. She was tired, aching, and still reeling from Yang’s words in the vault. She didn’t want to face him. Not now.


	92. Production

“Lights, camera, ACTION!” Summer declared as she turned the camera on, grinning.  
“Really?” Raven asked, raising a brow. “You’re doing this now?”  
“We’re making a movie,” she said.  
“Not a movie we’re going to show anyone,” Tai pointed out.  
“Doesn’t mean we can’t have fun,” Summer replied.  
“Oh, we will…”


	93. Middle

“So much for that ‘cool lone wolf’ act.” Tai said, grinning as Summer took a picture of the trio.  
“Shut up, Tai,” Qrow growled softly, rolling his eyes.  
“Come on, it’s cute,” Tai whispered. Qrow sighed and looked at his nieces, asleep and curled up on either side of him. 


	94. Liability

“You’ll have to leave me behind,” Qrow said. “My semblance will just cause problems for you.” They were leaving for Beacon at dawn.  
Raven gave him A Look. “It’s us against the world, remember?”  
“Are you sure?” He hated that he sounded hopeful.  
She rolled her eyes. “Of course I am.”


	95. Part

“You’re still part of this team, and this family, damn it,” Tai growled. “When you left, there was a hole that no one else could fill, and we all felt it.”  
Raven wrapped her arms around herself, torn. “Tai…”  
“You need us just as much as we need you.”


	96. Confrontation

Raven was holding Summer’s body in her arms when Salem broke free of her stone prison. She had to run, she had to get away, and she knew that if she tried to take the body with her, she wouldn’t make it.   
Salem laughed as Raven fled through a portal.


	97. Bother

“I swear I’m going to pluck your primaries if you don’t stop,” Tai threatened the birds on the counter, who kept stealing bits of the vegetables he was cutting up for supper. The duo just looked at him for a moment before darting forward to steal a piece of carrot.


	98. Solid

Raven curled up in bed, pressing in against Tai. He was warm and solid against her, an anchor to help her remember what was real when she woke up terrified. He slipped his arms around her, nuzzling the back of her neck in his sleep. She relaxed and drifted off.


	99. Vegetation

“Okay, million lien question… are these the poisonous ones or not?” Tai asked as he and Qrow examined the berries.  
“How about one of you eat them and the rest of us will find out in a few hours?” Raven suggested.  
“Raven!” Summer admonished as she looked through the book.


	100. Horror

Raven stared as Salem stood up, pulling the sparking dust blade from her chest. No matter what she did, how many times she killed Salem, the witch rose again.  
“Join me or die,” Salem finally said when Raven was exhausted. “Those are your choices.”  
Raven ran instead.  
And never stopped.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy shit, we're at #100. Hard to believe. Thank you to everyone who's been reading!


	101. Lifestyle

“Have you ever considered giving your liver a break?” Tai asked.  
“No, because then I’d have a hangover.” Even Qrow couldn’t miss the slurring.   
“Summer and I are worried,” he said, frowning. “Even the girls are starting to notice.”  
“I have everything under control,” he lied as he kept drinking.


	102. Admit

Raven turned her head to look at Summer. Her girlfriend relaxed, her head on Raven’s shoulder. It was just them in the room for once, their teammates gone on a mission for the weekend. Summer’s arms were around her, warm and comfortable, comforting.  
“I think I’m in love with you.”


	103. Shortage

Tai sighed as he looked through the wares of the dust shop. Since the embargo from Atlas, it was getting harder and harder to get a hold of. They were keeping the Grimm contained in Vale, just barely. If Vale fell, how long would it be until Patch was overrun?


	104. Survey

STRQ looked out over the cliff at the Grimm they were expected to defeat.

“Soooo, we’re fucked, aren’t we?” Qrow asked, leaning against Harbinger. Raven shrugged, indifferent.

“Yup, pretty much,” Tai said.

“I think we can take ‘em,” Summer said, stretching.

“And if we die?” Qrow asked.

“Walk it off.”


	105. Mist

Summer walked through the misty woods, pulling her cloak closer around herself in an effort to stave off the cold and damp. At least she was on her way home.   
But she grinned when she heard the familiar sound of Raven’s portals, running through it and into her lover’s arms.


	106. Remain

Tai looked at the photograph on the mantle, the one of STRQ in their Beacon days. One dead, one destroyed, one broken, and one quit. Qrow was the broken one. He and Raven could be either, depending on the day.  
Either way, shattered pieces were all that remained of STRQ.


	107. Soap

“What did you do?” Summer demanded as she stared at the chaos. Bubbles were overflowing from the washer.  
“I don’t know!” Raven growled. “I did what the pictures showed!”  
Summer sighed as she waded in to turn off the machine. She wished the Branwens would just admit they needed help.


	108. Complication

Raven sat on the roof, looking out at the city lights. It was supposed to be simple: Go to Beacon, learn to kill, graduate, return to the tribe. It was what she was meant to do.   
So why was she thinking of throwing it all away for Summer and Tai?


	109. Red

Raven’s world was awash in red. Her eyes, her clothes, her aura. It made sense that it would drip from her as well, from the edge of her sword, from hands that would never be clean. Sometimes she hated the colour. But she couldn’t escape it, she couldn’t escape herself.


	110. Tower

“What’re you two doing up there?” Qrow asked, looking at his nieces up in a tree.  
“We’re in our tower, plotting!” Ruby called back, brandishing a stick like a sword.   
“We gotta get past the dragon to get the cookies!” Yang explained, grinning.  
“Alright, I won’t warn him,” Qrow promised.


	111. Excuse

“Why are you drunk before noon?” Summer asked.  
“’Cause it got rid of the hangover,” Qrow replied, grinning.  
She frowned. “Maybe you should take a break.”  
“Nah, I’m fine,” he replied before taking another drink. “Look, I just had a rough mission.”  
It seemed lately they were all rough missions.


	112. Fault

“Sorry,” Qrow muttered, watching as Raven and Summer bandaged Tai’s wounds.  
“Not everything is your fault,” Raven said. “Your semblance isn’t nearly powerful as you seem to think it is, and it’s not even what you think it is. There is no luck, only probability.”   
He wished he believed her.


	113. Intervention

Tai frowned as the rest of STRQ gathered by his bed.  
“Tai, we have to talk,” Summer said. “You know that we love you, and we want what’s best for you…”  
“The moustache has to go,” Raven said bluntly.   
“It’s even worse than the cargos,” Qrow added.  
“Seriously?” Tai pouted.


	114. Improve

When Qrow woke up to the smell of pancakes, he was on his feet in a flash, worried Yang had decided to try cooking again.  
But when he got to the kitchen, he found Tai was the one at the stove, and looked more awake than he had in weeks.


	115. Species

“Oh look, a carpenter,” Qrow said. It had been a really boring day.  
“What? Where? In the middle of the forest?” Tai asked, looking around.  
“There, dumbass,” Raven said helpfully, pointing.  
Tai frowned. “That’s a wood bug.”  
“No, that’s a woodlouse,” Summer said.   
The debate continued long into the night.


	116. Tablet

“What are we looking for again?” Qrow asked.  
“Some kind of ancient tablet from one of Ozpin’s previous lives,” Raven replied.   
“Which means you’re going to read it before we give it to him,” Qrow sighed.  
“You can go ahead and rely on blind faith,” Raven snapped. “I need more.”


	117. Murder

There were many things that Qrow loved about being able to turn into birds. The ability to fly, the freedom, it was like nothing they’d ever known.  
“Hey, hey Qrow, what do you call two crows?”  
And then there was Tai.  
“What?”  
Tai grinned. “An attempted murder!”  
“I hate you."


End file.
